Thursday, January 29, 2009

The parts were marked using a 20 watt q-switched ytterbium fiber laser with 160 mm focal length lens. The samples were sprayed with TherMark to create brightly contrasting marks. The marking on the cylinder had the same cycle time. There were additional marks made at a smaller size. The cycle time for the smaller marks was 16.86 seconds. The parameters were the same as the flat plates. Using the 160mm lens made it difficult to mark on the cylinder due to the roundness of the part. The edges of the mark became unfocused and caused the end result to look a little distorted. This can easily be remedied by using a larger focal length lens, such as the 254mm or 420mm focal length lens.